About

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club was founded in 1867 by the Wednesday Cricket Club in Sheffield, named after the day they played their matches on. Initially formed as a means of keeping their players and supporters occupied during the cricket off-season, the football club soon outgrew its cricketing counterpart. In 1889 the club became a founding member of the Football Alliance and in 1892 the club was elected to the Football League. They are nicknamed The Owls, after Owlerton, the location of their stadium.

Sheffield Wednesday were founding members of the Premier League in 1992. The following year, the club made history in a rather unfortunate way, becoming the first club to reach both the League Cup and FA Cup final and lose both, to the same opposition, Arsenal. Although they have spent most of their existence in the top tier of English football, Wednesday were relegated from the Premier League in 2000. They have not returned to the top flight since.

The club's main period of success spanned from 1895-1930, during which time Sheffield Wednesday amassed four league titles and three FA Cups however they did lose their first FA Cup final by a record scoreline 6-1 to Blackburn Rovers Football Club in 1890. Since that time, success has alluded the club for the most part, although they did win the League Cup in 1991, defeating Manchester United in the final.

Despite the club's relative lack of success since the 1930s, it has housed some fine footballers, including former England internationals like Des Walker, Chris Waddle and David Hirst and Italian Paolo Di Canio, who famously picked up an 11 match ban during his time at the club, after an altercation with referee Paul Alcock.

Sincw 1899, the club has played its home matches at Hillsborough. With a capacity of 39,732, the ground is currently the largest club stadium outside of the Premier League. It was the scene of one of football's biggest tragedies, the Hillsborough disaster, as 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death during an FA Cup semi-final in 1989. The disaster spurred on efforts to improve safety in football grounds, including implementing all-seater stadiums. Recently, plans were put in place for another stadium upgrade, which would bring the capacity up to almost 45,000.